There are various types of distillation techniques known in the art including solar distillation. The solar distillation technique uses solar energy for creating an evaporation-condensation cycle where contaminated water is converted into distillate water through the evaporation-condensation process using solar energy. This cycle is well known in nature, as rain (which is a form of distilled water) occurs through a natural phenomenon of hydrologic cycle when water in natural water bodies like oceans, seas, rivers and ponds evaporates by the effect of solar energy and gets accumulated in the atmosphere as clouds and fogs to be condensed and fall again on the earth surface in a form of rain and snow.
There are two traditional forms of solar distillation, active distillation and passive distillation. In passive solar distillation, the apparatus relies on the natural temperature difference between the basin and the top of the apparatus as a means to condense water. In active solar distillation, external energy is supplied to the basin to increase the temperature difference between the basin and the top to further improve productivity.
Traditional solar distillation systems have many drawbacks. For example, traditional solar distillation systems are installed on land and water must be fed to it from a nearby water source which results in complexities and limitations in transferring the non-potable water (brackish water or seawater) into the systems. Also, the water left out after purification is highly concentrated with salts, bacteria and other impurities such as ion which must be removed from the systems after each purification cycle according to certain standards. This adds to the complexities and limitations of traditional systems. In addition, the production of potable water using these traditional systems is limited to the size of the reservoirs which also result in complexities and limitations to produce and maintain.
Natural water bodies on earth contain huge amount of water, however most of the total available water on earth is practically not potable and therefore not consumable or usable by humans because it is either saline water or brackish water. Such natural water bodies comprise oceans, seas, rivers, ponds and the like. Traditional distillation systems have failed to efficiently use the natural water bodies for the production of distilled water.